Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.41%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Monday, as losses in the Real Estate Investment , Utilities and Energy sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.41%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Hub24 Ltd (AX: HUB ), which rose 4.95% or 0.700 points to trade at 14.840 at the close. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX: APT ) added 4.62% or 1.100 points to end at 24.920 and Nearmap Ltd (AX: NEA ) was up 4.09% or 0.140 points to 3.560 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX: PLS ), which lost 6.11% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.615 in late trade. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX: SYR ) declined 5.86% or 0.070 points to end at 1.125 and Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX: DHG ) shed 5.19% or 0.160 points to 2.920.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 646 to 526 and 374 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.94% to 12.235 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.24% or 3.05 to $1285.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.74% or 0.47 to hit $62.83 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.77% or 0.55 to trade at $71.08 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.21% to 0.7054, while AUD/JPY rose 0.34% to 78.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.00% at 97.730.